Content Strategy For Your Small, Local Business

The content on your website plays a very important role. Merely describing your products or services is not enough. Creating a blog, however, is the best way to enrich your website and attract customers.

That’s why, if you haven’t set up a blog yet, you should really consider doing it. But if you already have it, let’s consider some ways to make it work to your best advantage.

You Have a Blog – Now What?

What should you write about? And what should be included in your articles?

You probably have asked yourself these questions. However, finding one answer can be difficult, because there are many factors to consider.

Everything depends on what kind of business you run, its location, the services or products you provide, and especially on what you want to write about (is there anything special that you want to tell your readers about that is connected with what you do? If so, share it!).

Think of your audience first. What do they want to read about on your website? Are they looking for a product/service description only? Or maybe for advice or reviews that will help them decide exactly which product to buy? Put yourself in your audience’s shoes.

Then, think about yourself. What expert advice can YOU give? Are you bombarded with questions about how to perform a particular function or procedure? Do people ask you questions about your products? Can you turn those Q’s into A’s with an article that will satisfy those Q’s? Try writing an article and explain it in easy terms.

Turn your blog into something really useful to your audience. Your readers should find your content valuable. They want to find answers to their questions. And it’s YOUR role to provide them with these answers!

Let’s Look at Some Examples

Do you run a local restaurant? That’s awesome! You can write about a whole bunch of stuff on your blog!

First, write about healthy dishes that you have on the menu. People are crazy nowadays about healthy food so that’s definitely something that will capture a reader’s attention.

Second, write recipes. If you want to share some of your recipes with your patrons, make it easy for them to find any unusual, necessary ingredients to make them. Describe step by step how to make some delicious dinners or low-calorie desserts.

Third, write about how some food can help to cure some illnesses or at least slow down their development. People are always looking for ‘natural’ remedies.

I’m sure that writing about these (and many other interesting topics) will result in a big boost of your clients.

Now, let’s say you run a local sports store. Great! You can write about a diversity of things.

First, write about how playing some sports can improve your health.

Second, write about what equipment to use when playing a particular sport. Then indicate that you have it in your store!

Third, write about local sports events. This will make your blog up-to-date.

Finally, you could even partner up with local teams to sell tickets or publish upcoming calendars on your site. Try featuring some articles about subscribers who might also be on the community baseball team.

There’s an incalculable number of topics you can write about, no matter what business you are in. Not only can you write about your main business, but you can branch out into related industries as well.

Now You Know What You’ll Be Writing About. What’s Next?

When you finally decide on what and how you want to write, you should think of what else to include in your writing to make it rank even better and be more appealing to your subscribers.

There are a few important things that are worth taking care of in any article:

1.Keywords – take a look at my previous blog posts to get some details about keywords:

2.Length of paragraphs – keep your paragraphs short. They’re easier to read fast and are more appealing to readers.

3.Headline – make it eye-catching and interesting.

4.Subtitles – most people skim an article quickly to get the general idea of what your article is about. Therefore, subtitles are very helpful.

5.Bullet points – it’s good to make a list of things you want people to remember.

6.Bold and italicized words – look very nice and enhance the look of your article. Additionally, they make your article more diversified.

7.Pictures or screenshots – make your articles more interesting, visually appealing, and easier to remember.

It would be advantageous for your website’s rankings if you included the above features in your articles, from both the readers’ and search engines’ point of view.

OK, Your Article Is Now Ready. Time to Share It!

As social media becomes more and more important, you cannot omit this step. Share your article wherever you can (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Delicious, etc.) and with whomever you want.

If your content is interesting, it has the potential to go viral!

Conclusion

The content of your website is very important. Update it regularly and often with quality content because it means that the information included in it is accurate and reliable. You can even set a day and time during the week to update your website and just do it! If you give it a try and include the above features in your articles, your business will rank much better.

If you write on a regular basis, search engines index your website more often too. If your content is accurate, up to date, important, reliable, and real, your audience will share and spread the news that appears on your website. You’ll build the community around your website which is extremely important nowadays.

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